The Centenary Cup for teams of 8 players was once again hosted by the Royal Automobile Club on 14th May. 9 teams competed for the trophy, the Reform Club running out winners with +98 IMPs. The Athenaeum team comprising Messrs Llloyd & Cooper, Ricketts & Thornton, Shanahan & Oppenheimer and Singer & Neilson finished 7th on -27 IMPs, a disappointing result though by no means a disaster. The results can be found here

Club Matches

A game of two halves
The Athenaeum entertained a strong team from the Oxford and Cambridge Club on 25 October, losing by 74 IMPs after being in contention at the interval. Our team was:
Pascal Ricketts & Geoff Lloyd
John Neilson & Donald Singer
Keith Robertson & Bill Shanahan
Richard Collins & David Morriss

Narrow victory vs House of Lords
The home match against the House of Lords (captained by on-loan James Cooper!) produced a nail-biting finish, the Athenaeum overturning a half-time deficit to scrape home by 1IMP. Our team was Geoffrey Lloyd (captain) & Pascal Ricketts, John Neilson & Donald Singer, Hazelanne Lewis & Charles King-Farlow and Keith Robertson & Richard Collins

Out and about

This column gives brief details of the exploits of Athenaeum bridge players away from our home base in St James's.

Congratulations to Richard & Dorothy Whittington for finishing in 13th place nationally in the EBU simultaneous pairs, played at 18 venues across the country on 6th February. They scored over 61% in the Oxford heat. Click on this item for the full results.

Welcome to Bridge at The Athenaeum

Inter-Club Duplicate at the Athenaeum

This is the website for inter-club duplicate tournaments, generally held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Athenaeum Club in London's Pall Mall. The Athenaeum is a private members club. Anyone wishing to play should contact Geoffrey Lloyd at ggll.gower@gmail.com

Hands are pre-dealt and scored electronically at the table. Results are available immediately after the final hands are played, together with a copy of the hands. Results are also posted to the Bridge at the Athenaeum website. These events start at 18.45 prompt. Please arrive by 18.35 to allow time for registration etc.

The Sir Basil Hall Challenge Trophy is awarded to the player with the highest average percentage score over their best 5 appearances during the season, not more than 3 of which are with the same partner*. To see the running scores, click on Competitions in the box on the left of this page, and then on Challenge Trophy.

The next 3 events are on 15th January, 19th February and 19th March 2019

*Subject, of course to a minimum of 5 appearances; the winner must be a member of a St James's or kindred club

The Athenaeum hosted the annual St James's bridge drive on 8 October. This well-established event in the St James's bridge calendar was, as expected, oversubscribed. Forty pairs made their way round the circuit of five clubs, playing six boards at each venue. London's benign autumnal weather continued so nobody got wet en route. The winners were pre-event favourites, RAC's Tony Scouller & Arun Suri, who had a clear lead over the runners-up, Steve Foster & Barrie Gilbert. Meticulous planning by tournament director Victor Lesk, assisted by Caroline Bottoms, ensured the event ran smoothly. The champagne prizes were presented to the winners by Jane Barker, Chair of the Athenaeum General Committee, who was guest of honour at the dinner. Click in this box for results

Peter Lennon & Ian Coleman win November Inter-club Pairs

The November Inter-club Pairs was a close run thing, with Peter Lennon & Ian Coleman (66.2%) finishing just ahead of Tessa Blackstone & Paul Thornton (65.8%). Jeremy Willans & Tim Smith completed the podium places with 62.3%. There was scarcely a slam bid all evening despite the cold 6♦ on Board 21 and 7♦ on Board 11. On the latter, what's wrong with 1♦ - 1♥ - 1NT - 4♦ - 4♥ - 4♠ - 5♣ - 6♦? By by-passing 3NT, 4♦ shows a strong hand with 4+ Diamonds and slam interest. The next 3 bids are all cue bids. I know, we didn't dind it either! Thanks to Paul Russell for directing.

Peter Lennon and Ian Coleman have also taken the lead in the competition for the Sir Basil Hall Challenge Trophy 2018/19. However it is still early days and one or other of them will have to play with at least 2 other partners to be eligible for the trophy.